Owners who have not paid for more than three months receive a red receipt for housing and communal services. However, debt is not always there. This is what Konstantin Krokhin, President of the Federation of Housing Organizations in Moscow, member of the Housing and Communal Services Committee of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, and a lawyer specializing in homeowners’ associations and housing and communal services issues, told Vechernaya Moskva.
According to him, in the Moscow region for many years there has been a practice of sending so-called red receipts – debt notices for utility services made in bright red or burgundy.
“Their goal is to attract the attention of the payer and encourage him to repay the alleged debts. However, upon verification, it often turns out that there are no real reasons for these debts,” he said.
The expert pointed out that this system has become a tool to cover the losses of management companies and resource supply organizations.
– The lack of money from real debtors, including those who have not paid for years or are in a privileged position, is distributed throughout the population. “As a result, conscientious payers are forced to pay the debts of others,” Krokhin said.
In his opinion, the red receipt in some areas has become a way to illegally collect money from the population.
– Over the past ten years, based on citizens’ requests, I have repeatedly encountered similar cases. When trying to understand the nature of debts, it turns out that amounts are often taken “out of nothing,” and periods of debt go far into the past, beyond the limits of human memory. It is almost impossible to verify such entitlements: receipts are not stored for a long time, and the archive is not maintained properly. When the management company or settlement center demands to justify the debt, they shift the responsibility to each other. “In my practice, I have never been able to confirm the legitimacy of these debts,” Krokhin says.
According to the lawyer, sometimes the red receipt is not a tool for fighting debtors, but a way to shift the financial problems of administrative organizations to conscious citizens. Krokhin believes that this is an ineffective and often illegal practice that affects ordinary people.
In many regions of Russia, as of April 1, clear time periods for transmitting water meter readings have been introduced. Now this should be done from the 20th to the 25th of every month, which will avoid overpayments. This was stated by State Duma Deputy Dmitry Svishchev on Sunday, April 12. What has changed for Russians and whether the transfer of water bills will become more convenient – in the article “VM”.